Signal-lantern.



E.WIBEANR SIGNAL LANTERN.

APPLICATION FILED APR.2s,191m

1,029,041, Patented June 11,1912.

-3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wi bwmw COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

E. W. BBANE. SIGNAL LANTERN.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1910.

Patented June 11, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. W. BEANE.

' SIGNAL LANTERN. APPLICATION FILED APR. 23. 191o.

Patented June 11, 1912.

3 BHBETS-SHEET 3.

couamm PLANUGRAPII tn, WASHINGTON V WTTED e TATES PATENT @FFICE.

EMILE W. BEANE, OF WINSLOXV, ARIZONA.

SIGNAL-LANTERN.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 11119 11,1912,

Application filed April 23,

1910. Serial No. 557,167.

- To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMILE W. BEANE, a citizen of the United States,residing at WVinslow, in the county of Navajo and State of Arizona, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Signal-Lanterns, ofwhich the following is a specification,

reference being had to the accompanying neously movable with said armtov position one of the lenses carried thereby over an opening in oneside of the lantern box adjacent to the track.

Another object is to provide a lantern of the above type of simpleconstruction mounted upon a semaphore pole, the semaphore arm beingmounted for oscillatory movement between the lantern box and the poleand having a tubular portion, the inner end of which is movable toposition the same opposite any one of a. plurality of lenses in thelantern box whereby various colored lights may be thrown upon the arm.

A further object is to provide means for maintaining the semaphore armin a normal position to indicate the danger signal.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists of thenovel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafterfully described. and claimed and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in

of the semaphore arm; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the lantern boxshowing the oscillatory lens carrying arm; Fig. 6 is a detailfragmentary perspective view of the semaphore arm; Fig. 7 is a detailperspective view of the yoke member.

Referring to the drawings 5 indicates a substantially rectangularlantern box to one side of which the spaced plates 6 are secured. Theseplates are connected at their corners and held in spaced relation bymeans of suitable bolts 7 which also extend through the semaphore post8. A bolt 9 extends centrally through each of the plates and through thepost and is secured therein by means of the nut 10. The sleeve 11 isdisposed upon this bolt between the plates 6 and is adapted to receivethe semaphore arm for oscillatory movement thereon as will be later setforth. t will be noted that one end of the lamp box'5 is open as shownat 12 and extending inwardly from the upper and lower corners of theother end are the glass plates 13. A metallic strip 14 is secured to theinner ends of these plates and suitable rabbeted strips 15 are spacedfrom each other and extend transversely. between the opposite sides ofthe lamp box outwardly of the strips 14. Between these strips and themembers 15 the lenses 16 are secured. The central lens which is securedbetween the members 15 is red, while the upper lens is yellow and thelower lens green. 1

Within the lamp box 5 the lamp 17 is adapted to be arranged and iscarried in a suitable casing 18 which in the present instance isprovided with an oil receptacle 19. The lamp case has a hinged cover 20.This cover is adapted to be positioned over the upper end of the lampglobe and carries an asbestos cushion 21 which bears thereon and isprovided with a central opening through which the lamp chimney extends.This cushion excludes all air from the lamp case, while a sufiicientquantity is admitted through the ventilating members 22 and 23 in thebox and the lamp case to the interior of the lamp 17. The globe. of thelamp is provided with the circular lenses 24: dis= posed opposite to thelenses 16 and adapted to focus the light rays thereon to obtain a lightof intense brilliancy.

As before stated, the semaphore arm 25 is mounted for oscillatorymovement upon the sleeve 11 between the lamp box and the pole 8. Thisarm is formed in three parts which comprise the larger flat portion 26,a comparatively short tubular portion 27, and the bar 28. The two formermembers comprising the arm proper are secured and carried by the outerend of the bar 28. This bar is provided with an opening adjacent to itsouter end through which the sleeve 11 extends, said sleeve and barhaving rotative movement upon the rod or bolt 9. As shown in Fig. 3 therear end of the bar 28 has secured thereto a weight 29. The arm members26 and 27 however are sufficient to overcome the weight 29 and normallymaintain the arm in a horizontal position. Also mounted upon the sleeve11 and independently movable thereof is a yoke 30 the major portion ofwhich is disposed rearwardly of the pivotal point of the semaphore armand has a weight 31 secured thereto. This weighted end of the yoke issupported upon a transverse bar 32 the ends of which are secured to thepost and to the side of the lamp box. Stop bars 33 are secured to thelongitudinal arms of the yoke on opposite sides thereof. These stop barsare adapted to be engaged by the rear end of the bar 28 and maintain thearm normally in its horizontal position. The semaphore arm may be movedin any approved manner, such mechanism forming no part of the presentinvention. lVhen the arm is moved below the longitudinal center of thelamp box, upon the release of the mechanism controllingthe arm by theoperator, it is returned to 1 its normal horizontal position by theweights 31 and 29, the combined weight of which is greater than that ofthe'arm and insures the proper operation thereof. When, however, the armis moved above its horizontal position, it will be returned to itsnormal position by the weight of the arm members 26 and 27 which isgreater than the weight 29 secured to the rear end of the bar 28, thedownward movement of said arm being limited by the stop 33. In thismanner the inner end of the tubular portion 27 of the semaphore arm isnormally disposed opposite to the central lens 16 which will diffuse ared light through the tubular member and upon the flattened main portion26 of the semaphore arm, thus indicating to the engineer that the trainshould be stopped as the track is not clear.

When the operator moves the semaphore arm opposite to the upperyellow-colored lens 16, it will indicate to the engineer that he is toproceed with extreme caution, and when the arm is opposite the lowergreen lens it will indicate that the track is clear. The .outer portion26 of the arm would preferably be covered with suitable material toreflect the light rays whereby the light thrown upon the arm would beutilized to the best advantage. In this manner not only is the armilluminated, but it is colored and easily read upon the darkest night toindicate to the engineer the condition of the track. A shaft 34 extendstransversely through the upper rear corner of the lamp box and hassecured upon the outer end thereof an arm 35. This arm may be of anydesired form and is enlarged at its lower end and provided with aplurality of lenses 36. These lenses are of similar colors to the lenses16, the central one being red, the lower green, and the upper oneyellow. The opposite or inner end of the shaft 34 is formed with thecrank 37 to whichis connected the upper end of a pitman rod 38 the lowerend of which is pivotally secured to the rear extremity of semaphore bar28 and is simultaneously movable therewith. Thus as the semaphore arm ismoved the shaft 3% will be rotated in proportion to such movement andthe lens carrying arm 35' oscillated upon the outer surface of the lampbox. An opening 39 is provided through the lamp box and has a glassarranged therein and when the tubular portion of the semaphore arm ispositioned opposite to any one of the lenses 16, one of the lenses 36will also .be disposed opposite this opening whereby a light of similarcolor will be shown upon the side of the lamp box to that which isthrown upon the semaphore arm. The opening 39 in the side of the casingis positioned directly opposite to the lamp 17 and receives the fullbenefit of the light rays radiated therefrom. Thus two signal lights areshown, and all possibility of the signal being disregarded is overcome.

In order to prevent the light rays being reflected from the lenses 16which are not in alinement with the arm 25, I provide the curtains 40which are carried upon spring shade rolls 41 of the ordinary form andare secured to the metal strips 14 at the inner ends of the glass plates13. The other ends of these curtains are secured upon opposite sides ofthe tubular portion 27 of the semaphore arm. There is sufficient of thecurtain material upon the rolls to extend across two of the faces of thelenses 16. Thus as the semaphore arm moves" the curtains will be drawnfrom one roller and rolled upon the other, such extended curtain beingdisposed over the lenses 16 and preventing the diffusion of thevariously colored lights upon the semaphore arm and allowing but asingle color to be shown thereon. In this manner every possibility of amisinterpretation of the signal is obviated and the device is thusrendered very positive in its operation and the signals may beinstantaneously changed and indicated from opposite sides of the lanternbox. 7

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a combinedsignal lantern and semaphore which while of simple con struction isadmirably adapted for the purposes specified. It will be obvious thatany desired number of, lenses 16 and 36 may be one end of said box inconcentric relation to the globe of the lamp, a semaphore arm having atubular portion movable into alinement with any one of said lenses toreceive the light rays radiated therefrom and diffuse the same upon thearm, and means arranged in the end of the lamp box and con nected to theinner end of the tubular portion of the semaphore arm to be moved bysaid arm over the other lenses, substantially as and for the purpose setforth. I

2. In combination, a lamp box having a lamp removably positionedtherein, a plurality of vari-colored lenses arranged in one end of thebox, an oscillatory semaphore arm, means carried by said arm movableinto alinement with any one of said lenses to receive the light raysradiated therefrom and to concentrate the same upon the arm, and meansmovably arranged in the end of the lamp box and connected to the arm tobe drawn over the other of said lenses in the oscillatory movement ofthe arm, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In combination, a lamp box having a lamp removably positionedtherein, a plurality of vari-colored lenses arcuately arranged in oneend of the lamp box, a semaphore arm mounted for oscillatory movementand having a tubular portion movable into alinement with any one of saidlenses, curtains mounted in the end of the lamp box above and below thelenses connected to the inner end of the tubular portion of said armwhereby said curtains are drawn over the lenses with which said arm isnot alined to concentrate a light of a single color upon the arm.

4. In combination, a lamp box having a lamp removably positionedtherein,a plurality of vari-colored lenses arcuately arranged in one end of thelamp box in concentric relation to the globe of the lamp, an oscillatorysemaphore arm having a tubular port-ion the inner end of which isdisposed contiguous to the lenses, said tubular portion being adapted tobe moved into alinement with any one of said lenses to concentrate alight of a single color upon the semaphore arm, curtains mounted uponspring rollers arranged in the end of the lamp box above and below saidlenses, the free ends of said curtains being connected to opposite sidesof the tubular portion of the arm whereby the same are drawn over thelenses with which the tubular portion of the arm is not alined,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence oftwo Witnesses. EMILEW. BEANE. WVitnesses:

WM. NAGLE, F. E. KIERNAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

